A rose-tinted spectacle

Johnny Barnes, the unofficial face of Bermuda's capital

Bermuda is not, as many people think, an island in the
Caribbean. In fact it is not an island at all, but a hook-shaped
archipelago, 640 miles off the coast of North Carolina in the empty
Atlantic Ocean. In 1609, Sir George Somers and his ship's company,
en route to Jamestown, Virginia, were run aground on Bermuda by a
violent storm. It was nothing short of miraculous that they washed
up on the only speck of land between the Azores and the Americas,
and Somers's crew made the best of their luck. The castaways - 150
men and women - established a camp while they built two new ships
so that they could continue their voyage, which they did 10 months
later. Intriguingly, first-hand accounts of the wreck seem to have
reached Shakespeare in London, who was inspired to write The
Tempest (Caliban makes a passing reference to the 'still-vexed
Bermoothes'). As for Bermuda, it has remained British forever
after, and it recently marked the 400th anniversary of its early
incorporation into the empire.